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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

When all else fails, beat up, brutalize or slaughter a Black person. I have never been an Ashanti fan. Apparently I'm not the only one. In a world where there are other people who sing better, write better, dance better, and are just plain better, Ashanti has struggled to remain relevant. With her first week album sales being well past poor ( She'll be #1, but look at the numbers.), Ashanti had to think up a way to get some interest because her talent isn't enough to make people pay attention.

So Ashanti had her idiotic record label set up a fake news video and create a site called Universal Crime Network. The site features a faux news video reporting a string of murders because people listened to her tired, uninspiring, vapid, music. The suspect in the video is male and there is blood all over the walls with the phrase "Black Children Must Die." [to appease Ashanti fans in the comments. The site lets you choose who must die, how they die and why they die- so "Black Children" was a phrase inserted by a user and not the record company. You could have had "Daffy Duck Must Die" of "Mother Teresa Must Die" in blood or any other name you entered.... Yeah, that makes it all better-- The title of the "Wave of bloodlettings fear across the nation" and is titled "Brutal Attack Linked to Music Video"]

In addition, the suspect is supposedly going to take a hammer and beat his next victim in the head . It looks like a real news story except at the end a "Gotcha Gram" pops up promoting Ashanti's New Album and asking you to sign up. They put up an entire fake news site for feature a faux gruesome crime scene.Where the heck is Barry Gordy to let Motown crank out this foolishness? OH yeah, he is off somewhere counting his money.

Ashanti is so ignorant. No, I don't throw that word around willy nily, seriously, someone should tie her to a chair and read her the police reports from the Dunbar Village Case, Romona Moore, Dorothy Dixion, the Hovey Street Killings. Someone should drag her to speak with the families of the more than 20 Chicago school children who were slaughtered during the last school term. Someone should read her a book or two. The idea that she would stoop to this to get more record sales is pathetic and sad, which pretty much describes the current state of her career. Don't believe that #1 record in the country spin her label puts out. She's not moving units in any number that matters.

Just plain ignorant. Ashanti has officially jumped the shark. What's left for her to do to get attention when her "talent" can't quite get the job done? Well lets see...She could marry someone a la Mariah Carey or Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson. She could pose naked for Playboy, have someone "leak" a sex tape a la Paris Hilton. What else could she do? Oh yeah, she could star in a reality show, but we all know no one would watch it.

In an industry that is supposed to be about creativity, why can't the recording industry manage to understand one fundamental truth: Ashanti sounds exactly the same as she did ten years ago. No growth. No Evolution. She isn't selling because her music is mediocre and even when she overtly "tries" to be controversial, she is mediocre. Why not have her cale the New York Times building in New York.

Najee Ali is going to lead a nationwide protest. I am not joining in and I will tell you why. The only reason this talentless "has been" decided to "parody" murdering Black folks was to sell records and get attention. If you decide to demonstrate I suggest nonchalance. Since she likes death and murder, hold a funeral for her career. No I am serious, get some Styrofoam tombstones and write "here lies Ashanti's career." Sing funeral dirges and say that you are praying for her and her career.

So folks how do you respond to foolishness when the entire purpose of the foolishness was to get you to respond???

UPDATE:Clnmike asked "How do we know that she did this?" per her publicist:

Huff said Ashanti did not come up with the Gotchagram concept — which debuted online more than two months ago — but that the singer supported the label's marketing concept. The video was intended to be a "Saturday Night Live"-style parody, Huff said, and while she reported that "95 percent" of the comments Ashanti has gotten so far have been positive, the singer plans to speak to her label in light of the controversy about possibly taking it down.......

In an interview with SOHH.com in February, Ashanti endorsed the violent imagery in the video. "It matches incredibly with the record," she told the site. "It's very cinematic as opposed to a regular music video. I found out my man is cheating on me, and cut to the story, you find him in a bloody tub." The message is simple, Ashanti told the site: "Don't cheat." MTV.com ( "Ashanti's Bloody Online Promotion Sparks Protest)"

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